Amigo #3

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Friday, August 1, 2008

Day 8 Flims - Davos Loop

This was a suppose to be an easier ride with not to much steep climbing. Well, that wasn't quite the case! The first 25 miles were fairly flat and the next 10 gradual uphill. Garbanzo was really struggling with is legs and his tush!!! He decided to turn around as to not hold us up. He picked the right place to reach this decision too, because after just 1 more mile to road started kicking up for 6.2 miles at and average of 7.5%, and then again for 2.7 miles at average 10.3%! I could hear Squirrel moan every time the road kicked up! We finally reached Davos after 48 miles and having climbed 2800ft. We stopped at an other cafe and eat a ciabiatta (panini). After this short break the road finally dipped down, but not for too long, of course! Luckily, this was fairly short, 1.4 miles, average 7% with some 11% thrown in.

Now the real descent started, 22 miles of twist and turns with speeds in the high 40's. 15 miles of rolling terrain brought us back to the now famous "oh not again climb to Flims"! Squirrel was really struggling now, even spinning in his 27. I got in front of him and started pacing him to the top. I myself kept wondering why it seemed a bit harder then on some of the previous climbs. The answer was that I was climbing the entire hill in my 21, thinking I was in my 24!!! I guess it's all for muscle tension work!

Squirrel had only one thing to say: This was a hard and brutal ride! Good thing there is a rest day tomorrow!

The total was 95 miles with 8050ft of climbing in 5:42hr. Once again, we were blessed with absolutely fantastic weather.